Hell On Earth
by JKJessie
Summary: What if there was no Lee? Instead, there's a female named Lea - a steadfast, swift, emotional Lara-Croft-esque girl with chocolate brown hair and deep brown eyes hiding insufferable pain? What if SHE made the decisions? Some brief Lea x Shawn at the beginning, but doesn't last too long, perhaps further pairings later on in the story.
1. The Beginning

"I'm home!" Lea called out, smiling slightly, as her eyes hungrily took again her home that she had missed so much; she had been away for several weeks, and had now returned from a short two-week-long trip with the school she was a professor at.  
"Lea?" Daniel sounded startled, and she heard a loud thud and rustling coming from upstairs.  
"Danny?" Lea called in a concerned voice, frowning as she heard further resounding bangs from the bedroom. What was he doing?  
"Lea, I'm coming, just - wait there for a minute!" Daniel called back.  
Lea's frown deepened as she heard the panicked tone in her husband's voice. Was he in trouble?  
"Danny, I'm coming up!" she called, hands cupped to her face.  
"No!" Daniel shrieked shrilly. "I mean... hang on! I'm... not decent!"  
Lea smirked slightly, and continued up the stairs. "Danny, we're married. You know I don't mind-" her voice cut off as she opened the door to their bedroom, to be met with a sight she definitely hadn't expected.  
Daniel was standing at the door looking bedraggled, towel dragged around his shoulders, his clothes lying on the floor.  
Lea was about to ask why he looked as he did, when a voice came from the corner.  
"Mrs. Everett... I'm so sorry! I don't-"  
Lea spun around abruptly, facing the bed. The blankets shifted and a feminine face appeared from under the duvet. A face she knew all too well.  
"What..." Lea clenched her teeth and her fists as she directed her now-harsh gaze toward the Senator.  
"Lea, I'm so, so sorr-"  
Lea's fist connected with the other woman's nose, which gave a sickening crunch.  
"Lea, no! Don't hurt her, please! It was my fault, all my-" Daniel's cry was interrupted as Lea grabbed his shoulders and threw him into the adjacent wardrobe. His back collided with a sharp handle and he let out a frantic sob. "Lea!"  
"You're pathetic," Lea snarled at the weak, cowering man.  
Lea hardly heard his desperate cries, or those of the Senator. The rage and fury she felt in her heart was too much to control; she could no longer bear keeping it inside. But, deep down, she knew she would face consequences for this. The logical part of her brain was shouting at her to stop now, before it was too late, but the pure animalistic side of her won out. The Senator attempted to fight back, but she was no match for the furious creature that had now taken over Lea's emotions. Soon, the Senator lay slumped, lifeless, against the wall, and Daniel screamed, long and high.  
Lea cut off his yell with her hand, and he bit down upon it, making a mad dash for the door. It was then that the vase found his head. He crashed to the floor, weeping agonizingly, as Lea stood over him with the remnants of the shattered vase. She threw a pillow onto his face and held it down with her elbow, until he breathed no more.  
She stood back up, intending to admire her handy-work, but instead, found herself crying. She wiped her eyes furiously;  
she couldn't show weakness. She couldn't. But soon she was on her knees, hands rubbing over Daniel's arms, begging and pleading for him to come back to her.  
"Danny... I'm so sorry... I'm so sorry, honey... come back... please, don't leave me... I'm SORRY!" she gasped. Soon, she realised her attempts were futile. He was gone. Dead. A strangled sob left her throat and she stumbled to his feet, yanking open the door and running for her life.  
She staggered into the daylight and cursed as the sound of sirens filled the air. There was no point running - the police were close enough to see her now, to see the features on her face. They knew what she looked like. She sank hopelessly to the floor, and tears began to roll down her face. A young, ebony-haired police officer grabbed the back of her neck and handcuffed her swiftly, and Lea barely processed being dragged to her feet and towards a police vehicle. She let the darkness of sleep take over her vision. 


	2. Caught

CHAPTERS WILL BE QUITE LONG, I'M TAKING THE DIALOGUE FROM A VIDEO ON YOUTUBE, SO I HAVE TO DO IT PART BY PART.  
Lea coughed and spluttered as she sat up, hands feeling uncomfortably stiff, as if they had been in the same position for months. Her bleary eyes attempted to process where she was. Why were her wrists so painful? Her gaze found the answer; the pair of handcuffs which must also be the culprit of her stiff hands. She shook her wrists frantically as the events leading up to now came rushing back into her mind. She closed her eyes tightly against the oncoming river of horrible images, and then opened them wide in terror; and they met the piercing blue eyes of the aging police detective in the rear-view mirror of the vehicle.  
She flushed red, realising that she must look insane to this man; crazy. And that wouldn't help with the crime case. She was going to get sent to jail for life, wasn't she? She would never get to have kids... she had always wanted to be a mother...  
She stared dizzily out of the windows as the car passed under bridges and past skyscrapers. Her eyes drunk in the pure beauty of the small city; to think, she had never appreciated the world before, and now she would most likely never see it again. All she would see would be the graying walls and splintering paint of a bland jail cell. This sort of thing just didn't happen to her; only to movie characters and in video games. How could it be happening to HER?  
"So I reckon you didn't do it then," the elderly police officer drawled, startling Lea out of her daydreams.  
Lea regarded the balding man carefully, studying him. If only she WAS innocent.  
"What makes you say that?" she asked, curiously. "You know, I've driven a bunch of people down to this prison. Lord knows how many. Usually about now I get the 'I didn't do it!'"  
he replied in his rather strong accent, shrugging. He was apparently fine with taking his eyes off the road when talking to her.  
Lea cocked her head to the side, more curious than ever. "Every time?" The officer nodded, wearily. "EVERY time."  
There was an almost deafening silence in the car. Lea wasn't sure how to continue the conversation. She didn't much want to talk to him, but she hated the silence. It made her think of her impending sentence, and that started her off panicking again.  
That was the last thing she needed. She didn't need to worry though about having no distraction, as the police radio attached to the front of the car blared and a muffled voice came from the speakers.  
She cocked her head to the side once more, listening carefully, trying to catch every word.  
"We've got what looks like a 10-91E near Peachtree Exit of 285. All cars asked to keep a lookout for a 91V in the area." The radio gave a crackle and the voice stopped.  
Lea sighed. She couldn't make sense of all this police-talk. 10-91E? 91V? I mean, really, what on earth was that? The police officer sighed, obviously also fed up with the silence between the two, and spoke up again.  
"You know," he began, and Lea raised her head tiredly. "I followed your case a bit, you being a Macon girl and all."  
Lea smiled politely, but she honestly didn't really care. Although she supposed it was useful having someone on her side. If he even was on her side. "You're from Macon then," she assumed.  
"Yep, came up to Atlanta to be a city cop in the seventies," the officer replied, and Lea's eyes widened in mild surprise.  
He had been a cop for that long? He must be pretty experienced in the crime department, then... though clearly he still couldn't tell the innocent from the guilty... the knowledge of her guilt threatened to make sadness take over her again, but she kept calm, and soon enough, the officer continued. "Always wanted to work a murder case, like that senatorial mess you got yourself mixed up in, with all due respect. A real shame, that is."  
A bubble of tears rose in her throat, but Lea swallowed it down and nodded.  
Sirens broke her out of her misery and she directed her gaze once more to the window at her side, just in time to see another police car speeding up the motorway. She wondered vaguely who it was going for and for what type of crime, but she shook her head and cleared it of conscious thoughts. "Hell," the police officer grinned. "My whole family used to be regulars at your folks' drugstore, right in downtown. Is it still there?"  
Her eyes watering with tears yet again, Lea nodded. She hadn't seen her family since the murders. They didn't want anything more to do with her.  
"Sure is," she replied to the officer, calming herself once more. She sure missed her family. Her parents and her brother...  
they were always there for her when she was a kid.  
"Good," the officer said awkwardly.  
The police radio burst into life once more, as a voice broke out: "Be advised of medical personell on route to Hartsfield, various 10's and 20's coming in."  
The detective looked at it, irritated, as his hand moved to turn it off, but he changed his mind at the last second.  
There was another awkward, long silence in the car as they sped down the motorway, but the officer was clearly fed up with all the gaps in the conversation, because he spoke up yet again.  
"I've got a nephew up at UGA, you teach there long?" His warm blue eyes found Lea's chocolate brown ones.  
"Going on my sixth year," she shrugged, trying not to think about it much. She didn't know how she would cope without her career,  
her friends and colleagues there, her charismatic students - then again, she supposed she wouldn't need to, what with her new life in prison. If you could even call that a life.  
"You meet your husband in Athens?" the officer asked, looking at her carefully, studying her reaction.  
She tried to keep a straight face, but she couldn't keep the haunted, tortured look from her eyes as he mentioned her husband.  
"You wanna know how I see it?" the officer replied, realizing she wasn't going to answer.  
"Sure, I guess," Lea sighed. She didn't see how she had much of a choice.  
The officer looked up, looking pleasantly surprised, but his face soon slipped back into a poker face again, and he said nothing for a while, deep in thought.  
"Regardless, could be you just married the wrong guy," he told her, attempting to comfort her.  
Lea crumbled inside. No, he was the right guy - she had just... if only she hadn't... She sighed. He did cheat... She didn't expect him to be another one of THOSE.  
She sighed, not bothering to reply. She didn't see any point.  
The radio sparked with voices once more, but Lea didn't bother listening to it. A helicopter flew dangerously close to the car. She was about to yell out, but she noticed the police sign on the side of the helicopter and stayed silent, watching as it dashed up the road in the opposite direction. Several police cars sped past too - Lea counted at least seven.  
What was going ON with all these police vehicles?  
"So, I'm driving this man once," the officer said, and Lea nodded absent-mindedly. "H-he was the worst one. He wouldn't stop going on about how he didn't do it. He was an older fella, big soft eyes behind a pair of smart-folk glasses, and he's just wailing back there, says it wasn't him. Crying and snotting all over... right where you're sitting!"  
Lea, who had previously been feeling sympathetic to the old accused man in question, now recoiled and shifted over to the other side of the seat.  
The radio blared again, and the police officer grabbed it and shut it off, apparently fed up with it interrupting the conversation.  
"Anyway, before long he began kicking the back of the seat, like a fussy baby on an aeroplane!" the officer replied, who had obviously this story many times before - it seemed rehearsed. "And I tell him he's gotta stop, that that's government property," he continued, turning around almost fully in his seat now, his eyes on Lea. She felt uncomfortable with the road not being watched, so her alert eyes scanned the horizon, "and that I'll be forced to zap him otherwise. So he stops, and having exhausted all his options, he starts crying out for his mama." Lea's eyes turned sad, imagining this poor old man in the tale sobbing for his mother. God, if she wasn't as calm as she was now, she'd probably be doing the same. "'Mama, it's all a big mistake! It wasn't me!'" the officer snarled suddenly and spitefully, alarming Lea. The officer was imitating the man maliciously, and Lea's opinion of the officer immediately went down.  
"Man," Lea forced out a sigh, attempting to sound indifferent. "Man?!" the officer laughed sarcastically. "Not even close! They caught the idiot red-handed, stubbing his wife, cutting her up as the boys came through the door." Lea almost puked. If she had had access to a blade, would she have been another of those 'idiots' cutting up their spouse? "He sits in my car screaming bloody murder that it wasn't him." The officer's face softened. "I think he actually believed it himself. It goes to show that people will up and go mad when they think their life is over."  
Well, Lea thought, she was going to try her hardest NOT to do that. She refused to be another of those stories that this man told criminals as he drove them to jail.  
"Oh, I got another good one for ya," the man grinned, his eyes still off the road. Lea stared ahead. Was that a person walking across the road? There was a dark silhouette strolling along in front of them, slowly. The officer hadn't noticed. Lea strained her eyes, trying to pick out what was giving off the silhouette.  
"This one's a little bit less depressing and a bit more hilarious if I do say so," the officer continued to talk, but Lea had long since tuned him out. That WAS a person! Her eyes widened. It looked like an elderly man. It also didn't look like the man was going to move faster anytime soon. Her mouth opened to warn the officer, but the officer wasn't listening, intent on telling his story. "This-"  
Lea suddenly exploded as they neared the pedestrian, about to crash into her. "WATCH OUT!" she screamed, covering her eyes and throwing herself to the side of the car as the officer turned, but not fast enough.  
She stared helplessly out of the front window. She nearly vomited at the sight of the man's face - it looked decayed and rotten. He really needed to see someone about that. But that was the least of her worries. The car crashed headlong into the man, and the officer swerved off the road as the vehicle crashed through the bars at the side of the motorway. Lea braced her hands on the glass window in front of her with one hand, the other hand shielding her face as best as possible with the handcuffs still on. She let out a long shriek as trees and bushes crashed into the window, splintering the glass. The officer was being thrown around like a ragdoll in the front.  
The crash must have only lasted at most ten seconds, but it felt like it went on forever as the car rolled down a hill and into a wooded area. The last thing she remembered was the first aid kit flying into her head as everything went black.


	3. Trapped

Her eyes opened blurrily, and she immediately widened them. Was that a person she just saw limping past her window? Was it the officer? She hoped against hope he wasn't injured.  
She dragged herself into a sitting position and pulled feebly at the handcuffs a few times. Nope, still chained tightly. She didn't think she could snap them anytime soon. She stretched slightly, feeling her ribs and neck. Nothing felt broken. She felt her left leg - fine. Now her right leg - she hissed in pain as her fingers brushed against the ripped fabric of her dark leggings. She looked down at the gaping hole in her trousers and almost gasped out loud - there was blood everywhere. She tried to stretch her leg and her eyes began to water. Nope, that wasn't going to happen. She looked out of her window, vision still clearing, and - was that - another person? She smiled slightly. Maybe the officer had gone to fetch help. It suddenly occurred to her to check the front of the car, and slowly lifted her head and moved her stiff neck to look around - and she gasped, clapping her hands to her mouth. Okay, so the officer hadn't gone for help. The front of the car was empty, and the wind-shield window was shattered, leaving a huge splintering hole in the middle of the glass. There was a trail of blood leading from the car, and at the end of the trail of blood lay the officer. Bile rose in her throat and she gulped it down. The officer must have been thrown out of the car after it had reached the bottom of the hill - but then she realised something odd. There was a swerve in the blood trail. It started straight away from the car, then swerved sideways, and the officer lay diagonally from the car. All right... so he hadn't been thrown out.  
Maybe he had dragged himself...? But no, he was smarter than that. He would have used the radio to call for help. Lea frowned,  
a small bead of fear set deep in her heart. She tried to ignore it. Perhaps the people outside the car had taken the officer out of the car to assist him? But that didn't make sense either. Why would they leave her in the car? And she wasn't a doctor, but she knew you weren't supposed to move a wounded person... She looked outside, tempted to give the paramedics a piece of her mind...  
but she saw nobody. Where had the people from earlier gone? She frowned, the bead of fear growing. She straightened up in the seat, trying not to move her leg too much, and she saw the officer's shotgun lying on the ground outside the car.  
"Why the hell did she have her gun out?" she murmured. She directed her stare towards the officer's limp body. Limp...  
Limp... Oh, god. She struggled to move, to assist him, but her leg prevented her. She called towards him, "Hey! Hey, Officer? Are-  
Are you all right? I'm still cuffed back here!" There was no reply. She swallowed. Maybe he was knocked out. She had to find a way to get help. USEFUL help, not inexperienced, disappearing help. An idea came to her and she flexed her good leg and kicked out at the window. It shattered, but not completely. She kicked it again, grunting with the pain as a few glass shards flew out. Cracks ran all along the window now. One more time should do it. She steeled herself, clenching her fists, and kicked her foot out at the window. She gasped, it still hadn't broken. This was taking more precious time than she thought. She elbowed it, almost screaming with the efforts it took, and the remains of the window fell away, crashing loudly onto the ground outside. She tried to adjust the handcuffs, but they wouldn't budge. "Damnit," she muttered.  
She used up some more treasured strength to suddenly make a wild grab for the door, and pulled herself up, dragging her heavy body out of the window. She brushed her hands through her messy, chocolate-brown hair, trying not to get the handcuff chain caught in the dark waves. Usually she would have it back in a ponytail, and it irritated her to have it brushing against her hips.  
She crashed to the ground from the window, and stood up, intending to walk over to the officer and bear the pain in her leg, but she wasn't expected the agony to be so bad when she placed her foot on the ground. Her leg gave way and she crashed loudly into the side of the car, squealing in pain, muffling the sound by biting down on her fist.  
She balanced herself again and looked over to the officer, who was still lying in the same position. She REALLY hoped he was just knocked out. Something felt weird about this - she didn't know why, nothing seemed out of the ordinary - apart from the obvious - but the forest gave her an eerie feeling. She glanced around her, but there was nothing. Still uncomfortable, she swallowed and limped around the car in the direction of the shotgun.  
She struggled to pick it up whilst keeping her leg off the ground. She made a grab for it and toppled over, gasping inwardly at the blinding pain, but made an effort to push it to the back of her mind and not make it any worse. She rolled the shotgun over in her hands, checking the barrel of the gun. "Looks empty," she whispered to herself, swallowing her disappointment. She needed defence, and badly.  
She placed the shotgun back in it's original spot on the ground. After all, it would be easier to carry it with the cuffs off.  
She wasn't really sure HOW to go about getting the cuffs off, that was the only problem.  
A metallic object caught her attention in the corner of her eye, and she turned. Was that... a shotgun shell? Perfect!  
If she could hold the gun, anyway. She hadn't used one in years. She used to be part of the armed forces, but only for around a year, and hand-on-hand combat was more her forte. But it was better than nothing. She struggled once more to pick up the item from the ground, but soon her fingers closed around the shell and she smiled, turning her attention back to the shotgun. "Why would he have needed his gun, anyway?" She couldn't help but wonder.  
She limped towards the officer. "O-officer?" She reluctantly continued towards the body until she was right beside it.  
She had an EXTREMELY horrible feeling about this. She searched frantically for any signs of movement, but she could detect no life. She reached out a hand to touch him, but pulled it back at the last second and cradled it against her chest, horrified. "God damn," she whispered. As she looked closer, she saw an old-fashioned silver ring of keys attached to his pocket. They must be for the handcuffs. She reached out and grabbed them. They emmitted a small tinkle as they keys clacked together. There were only two keys on the ring, and just her luck, the first one she tried didn't fit. The second key she put in gave a slight click and the handcuff fell from her hand. She grinned and rubbed her bright-red wrist, savouring the free feeling. Then she looked down at the officer and remembered she still had one to unlock. She fumbled for the keys and she tumbled out of her hand, landing right next to the officer's face. She cursed and bent down to get them. She hesitated, her hands only a couple of inches away from him,  
before making a mad dash to the key and grabbing it. She sighed in relief as the officer didn't move. She didn't know what she was expecting; maybe for him to wake up and yell at her for trying to open the handcuffs, or to attack her or shoot her for trying to escape. A sigh escaped the officer at her feet, and Lea beamed brightly. "Officer?" His fingers twitched. Lea bent down, holding out her hand. "Need any help?" She couldn't wipe the smile off her face. It was nice to know she wasn't alone. Suddenly, the officer jumped at her, and she fell backwards in shock, her eyes focusing on the treetops. She sat up quickly and almost fainted.  
The officer looked... well, dead. Like... a zombie. But those didn't exist. The bead of fear from earlier than grown into a full tornado of terror. She froze, studying the undead officer as he began to crawl swiftly towards her. His skin was rotten and sagging, his eyes dead and black, and his hair was falling out every second. He crawled in a strange position, as if one of his arms wasn't quite working...  
as if his HEART wasn't quite working...  
She finally got some sense into her petrified mind and began to scramble backwards, away from the advancing... zombie,  
for lack of a better word. "Holy crap," she cried, as her hands slipped from beneath her and she crashed back to the ground. When she sat up again, the officer was no more than half a metre away from her face. She shrieked and began to struggle away again.  
It was harder with her bad leg. She put some distance between her and the officer before her back collided with the police car. She couldn't run, not with her leg. She had nowhere to hide. She was trapped. 


	4. Found

Lea looked desperately around for some sort of branch that she could use as a weapon, before her eyes rested upon the shotgun. Perfect. Lea took the shotgun shell from her pocket and looked up to see the officer advancing quickly. "G-get away from me!" she cried, starting to panic again. She grabbed the gun and her fingers fumbled to put the shell in, but her fingers were frozen and stiff with cold and fear, and it was only a moment before she dropped the shell. She cried out in frustration, panic taking hold of her senses. The officer was only a metre away, and the shell had fallen right by him. Lea made a crazy grab for the shell,  
fist closing around it and it fit neatly into the gun.  
"Don't make me do this!" Lea yelled to the undead officer, but he took no notice. Lea didn't even bother aiming, she just knew she had to get this shot; not aiming was probably a stupid idea seeing as she only had one shell, but she didn't care.  
It didn't matter anyway, because her shaky finger pulled on the trigger and the bullet sliced through the officer's head, splitting it open. Blood burst everywhere as the officer sank to the ground. Lea was trembling. That was another murder on her hands, another soul taken by her shot. She hated how weak she was. She liked to think herself as a strong Lara Croft-esque figure, but she knew she wasn't. At least she was sort of fast. That would help if she didn't have an injured leg. She wondered vaguely if she was near the town. She could get it patched up, there must be a hospital there somewhere. But then she hesitated. She had been dazed with relief from killing the zombie, but... if there was one,  
there was bound to be others, right? People don't just... turn. Ever. If they're real, and she guessed there was no point denying it anymore, people had to actually BE turned. By other... dead people. God, she couldn't believe she was thinking this. She was about to put a hand to her forehead but thought better of it when she saw how bloody her hands were. She sighed, well past the feeling that she wanted to vomit. She felt like she was going to pass out, but she doubted she could now she knew that those things existed. She looked at the officer again. "His skin's all rotten..." she observed shakily. "He smells like crap. What the HELL is this?"  
She looked around, in an attempt to see if there was anyone round she could call to for help, but not expecting anyone.  
After all, who would want to hang around in this place with those things? But to her surprise, she saw a shadow. It looked like a small girl. She could just make out a wild mane of dark, bushy hair, with a hat on top. It looked like she was wearing a pale yellow dress. Lea smiled. Definitely not dead. She raised her hand feebly and weakly waved in the direction of the girl, before cupping her hands to her mouth and calling, "HELP! Go get someone! There- there's been a shooting!" She wasn't sure what else to call it.  
The girl ran off. Lea hoped she had gotten the message.  
A loud rustling echoed from a bunch of bushes beside the car, and Lea gasped, whipping her head around, trying to locate the direction of the noise. One of those horrible... dead... THINGS emerged from behind a tree, and Lea almost began crying. But she was stronger than that. She honestly could barely help it; the thing's ribs were showing, it's jacket ripped open, and it's brains visibly pulsating. Another one came out from the other side of the tree, and Lea could feel her sanity leaving her once more.  
She breathed heavily, eyes wide. She clambered to her feet, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in her right leg. She limped two steps forward, not paying attention to where she was going. She could see at least five of those things now. All coming.  
For HER. She was going to die! No. No, she wouldn't let that happen. The little girl had gone to get help. She was going to get through this. She tripped over the officer's body, her chest slamming against the ground, knocking the breath out of her as her bad leg collided with a rock. She screamed, hands over her mouth. She dragged herself up once more, limping to the fence at the edge of the wood. She really hoped she could climb over it. If not... well, she was dead, wasn't she? More and more of the things were around every corner she turned. She tripped over a tree root, and almost punched the ground in frustration. The dead were closing in around her on every side, and she didn't even bother getting up. She crawled desperately through a gap in the crowd of the things, hoping for the best. Hands grabbed at her, but she rolled, dodging them. She supposed her army experience must have taught her SOMETHING. She made it up the small hill and her pale hands grabbed the top of the fence, dragging herself up and swinging her good leg over. She took one more look into the forest, and then pushed herself over the fence, dropping to the ground on her side.

STORYSTORYSTORYSTORYSTORYSTO RY

She could still smell and hear the things on the other side of the fence. She crawled backwards, away from them, biting her lip.  
They began to bang against the fence. She knew that they would push it down sooner or later. The fence began to creake and she saw it swaying slighty. She gulped, and kept crawling backwards, until her back hit something. Frightened, Lea looked behind her swiftly, but there was nothing there - she had only just collided with some decking outside a suburban house. It was the situation with the police car all over again, her trapped between an obstacle and a dead person... except now there were twenty of them.  
She looked back at the fence, which was seriously wobbling now. A plank of wood fell from the fence, and one of THEM managed to wedge its leg through the gap. If it pushed just slightly... they would all be in. Suddenly, four shots rang in the distance in the opposite direction. The things on the other side stopped banging and Lea could hear them groaning as they stumbled towards the sound. So they were attracted to noise, she mused, calming down. That could help her later.  
She breathed out slowly and stood up, looking around. She was in the middle of a garden, in front of a house. The sun was blaring down cheerfully, the cheek of it - how could the birds sing so brightly and the sun shine, when... when this had just happened?  
She looked to her left and saw a large, majestic tree. Her gaze traced up the trunk and alit upon a small treehouse.  
"Hello?" she called out in no general direction. The town looked abandoned. She hoped for her own sake that it wasn't... "Anybody?"  
She looked up at the treehouse once more, searching for a ladder. "None... figures," she smirked sarcastically at her bad luck. "Not getting up there anyway, this leg the way it is."  
She looked up at the treehouse; all was quiet, but she wondered...  
"Anybody up there?" she called. It was perfectly possible; it was a good place to hide from the things out there. "Help! Somebody!  
Yell if you can hear me!" There was no yell - no reply at all. The things... they hadn't taken this place over, had they? Lea listened carefully for any signs of life, but... nothing.  
She limped up the stairs to the house, the pain in her leg clouding her mind. It wasnt getting any better at all. She walked up to the glass French doors and pressed her hands to it so she could see inside. She banged lightly on the glass. "Hello? Anybody home? I need a little help!" She listened hopefully, biting her nails, but once more, she was answered only by silence.  
She placed her hand on the handle and pulled across. With some efforts, the door slid open.  
"I'm coming in! Don't shoot, okay?" she called as a precautionary measure. "Ah! Crap!" she slid her hands down her leg, which had swollen up. "Hello? I'm not an intruder! ...Or one of them."  
It didn't look like there was any sign of a struggle... "Maybe these people need more help than I do," Lea sighed. She noticed a colouring book complete with crayons sitting on the counter. She looked at it. The front page had a white unicorn drawn on it, clearly done by a child. So a kid lived here once... Her heart ached. Was it taken by one of them? Eaten? Killed?  
Whatever those things did to their prey? Traditionally, zombies ate the brains of the people they caught, but then how come there were no bodies around? Nothing was "traditional" anymore, anyway. It wasn't a horror story. This was real life.  
She limped into the kitchen. "Jesus..." she breathed, eyes wide. So much for no sign of a struggle. She was staring at a large pool of blood. Tiny bloody handprints were imprinted on the floor. Lea's heart almost broke at the sight.  
She saw a small bowl of fruit over on the table, and her stomach rumbled, reminding her of just how hungry she was. She eagerly limped over and grabbed an apple, and brought it to her mouth. But she looked at it before biting down and she closed her mouth, despaired - "It's fake. Damn."  
Maybe there was something in the kitchen? The house didn't look like it had been abandoned for too long.  
Lea turned to stroll into the kitchen to search the cupboards, temporarily forgetting about the puddle of blood - which she promptly slipped in. "Ah!" Lea cried out in pain, as her head collided with the floor. "Damn it!"  
Yeah, the blood was wet... so it hadn't been too long ago. Were the people still in the house? Could they not reply? Or...  
had they joined THEM now?  
She was pretty much terrified right now; the slightest noise her feet made on the floor made her jump. It was at that moment an extremely loud beep echoed throughout the room, startling Lea, almost making her fall again. She whirled around,  
but saw nothing. "What's that beeping?" she murmured to herself.  
Her gaze found a small cup of water beside the sink and she rushed over, not caring about how painful her leg was anymore. She gulped it down thankfully, wiping her hand across her mouth when she was done.  
She began to search the cupboards and drawers, but soon came to the realization that absolutely nothing was left.  
The place had been ransacked. Everything worthwhile had been taken, by either the family who left the home, or by thugs and thieves, or perhaps looters.  
She opened the last drawer, and saw a walkie-talkie. "Weird," she whispered. "Who has the other one?"  
When she looked at the front of the empty fridge, she saw a note with some scribbled writing on it. "Hmmm... The Marsh House,"  
she read, looking at the code beneath it. "That's a Savannah area-code... But that's the kind of note you'd leave a babysitter."  
A red light in the corner of her eye caught her attention, and she saw the phone message machine bleeping. The actual phone had been taken, much to Lea's dismay, but the answering speakers were still there. She pressed the button,  
hoping for some useful information.  
"There are three new messages," the phone robotic voice declared. Message one, left at five-forty-three p.m." The robotic gave way to a friendly-sounding female voice. "Hey, Sandra, this is Diana. We're still in Savannah. Ed had a little 'incident'  
with a crazy guy near the hotel, so we had to get him back to the ER and get him checked out. Anyway, he's not feeling well enough to drive back tonight, so we're staying an extra day. Thanks so much for looking after Clementine, and I promise we'll be back in time before your spring break!" The message ended, and Lea looked back up at the note. Who was Clementine? Was that the kid who lived here? And she supposed Sandra was the babysitter... so the caller must have been Clementine's mother,  
the one who left the note. Lea hoped she was still alive. The robotic voice echoed from the phone again. "Message two: left at eleven-nineteen p.m." The phone beeped and the same female voice came on again, but this time, she sounded worried.  
"Oh my God, finally! I don't know if you've tried to reach us; all the calls are getting dropped." The woman was stammering.  
"They're not letting us leave and aren't telling us anything about Atlanta. Please, please, just leave the city and take Clementine with you back to Marietta. I've got to get back to the hospital! Please let me know that you're safe!" The choked-up voice ended.  
Lea found her eyes tearing up as she glanced at the colouring book again. She desperately hoped that this Sandra had taken the advice and left the town... But these were new messages. They had obviously not been recieved. And there was one message left. Lea almost didn't want to listen, dreading what she'd hear. But she knew she had to.  
"Message three," said the automated voice monotonously. "Left at six-fifty-one a.m."  
The same voice came on, but panicked and scared. Lea almost began sobbing straight away, as the voice cried, "Clementine, baby? If you can hear this, call the police. That's 9-1-1. We love you... we love you... we love y-" The message was cut off.  
Lea put the back of her hand to her mouth. No... She picked up a family photo beside the phone. A little girl, Clementine, was sitting at a table, with a woman's hand on her shoulder,  
and a man standing behind them. Lea smiled at the cosy photo; they had obviously been a close family. The grin was wiped off her face as she realised that they were all most likely dead, along with Sandra the babysitter.  
"Mummy?" Lea jumped as the voice came through the walkie-talkie. "Huh?" she gasped, leaping to grab it, lifting it to her face and holding down the button. "Hello?" she whispered, limping over to the door and looking outside.  
"You need to be quiet," the voice whispered back. It sounded like a little girl... Could it be Clementine?  
Did that mean that Clementine and Sandra were alive somewhere? Maybe even her parents?  
Lea limped back into the home and spoke into the walkie-talkie. She swallowed. "I'm not a monster."  
"Good," the little girl replied, muffled, and Lea couldn't help but smile slightly.  
"What's your name?" Lea asked, crossing her fingers that the answer was-  
"I'm Clementine. This is my house," the girl said. Lea breathed out, a beam spreading across her face. Yes!  
"Hi, Clementine. I'm Lea," she said softly. "How old are you?"  
"Eight," Clementine replied, sounding brave. "And you're all alone?" Lea's eyebrows shot up.  
"Yes. I don't know where anybody is," Clementine said, sounding distressed. "How old are YOU?"  
Lea was surprised at the question. "I'm 24."  
"Okay," Clementine said. Lea frowned.  
"Where are your parents?"  
"They took a trip and left me with Sandra," the eight-year-old replied. "They're in Savannah, I think. Where the boats are."  
"Where are you?" Lea asked, confused, having search the room whilst speaking.  
"I'm outside in my treehouse," Clementine said. Lea had a mix of feelings there. Why couldn't Clementine have let her know when she saw she needed help? Although.. She supposed she could have been mistaken for one of them, what with her limp. "They can't get in," Clementine continued.  
"That's smart," Lea grinned in the direction of the treehouse.  
"See?" The wooden door opened at the treehouse and Lea tried not to gasp. It was the little girl who was supposed to have gone to get help, the one with dark bushy hair and the yellow dress, with the hat. "Can you see me? I can see you through the window."  
Lea raised her hand in greeting, and Clementine smiled. Then her eyes widened and she squealed, ducking back inside the treehouse.  
Lea spun around, arm raised, ready to hit anything there with the walkie-talkie - but found her wrists being grabbed by one of the dead things... the first female one she'd seen. She was mad, hitting out at Lea and snarling - Lea, frantic, caught the thing's arms and tried to push her away, but god, was it strong! She eventually managed to push it against the counter, and it tumbled to the ground. Lea, breathing heavily, turned and ran, but slipped in that annoying pool of blood again and smashed her chin into the counter-top. The dead thing scrambled towards her, but Lea's eyesight was blurry - she could just make out a figure coming towards her, but it looked far away... But her depth perception must have been off, because a second later, her foot was grabbed. She kicked out at the thing, and her foot connected with it's face, as it stumbled backwards. Lea got up and made a dash for the doors leading outside, but the thing grabbed her bad leg and she went crashing to the ground again, yelping. Lea punched aimlessly in the direction of the thing, vision still not fully cleared - her knuckles hit the thing hard enough to make it stagger backwards once more. Lea heard the door slide open behind her, and looked up quickly to find Clementine standing there with a hammer. The thing had her foot again, and Lea wasn't feeling too strong right now. The zombie, who, now she thought about it, must be Sandra - the thought made her sad once more - had crawled up when she was distracted, and was now on top of her,  
trying to rip its teeth through her face. Lea managed to shove it about a metre back, but it took all of her remaining strength. She couldn't hit more if she tried. She backed away slowly and grabbed the hammer from Clementine's hand - and brought it smashing down onto Undead-Sandra's face. She pinned it down under her foot and brought it down hard again, and again,  
and again, five times, until the hammer got stuck in Undead-Sandra's face and Lea, repulsed, pulled it out. It was over. She stood up, put her hands on her knees, and bent over, trying to catch her breath. "Man..." she breathed. She would never get used to this. She looked up at Clementine, realising she hadn't made just a good first impression. "Hi there!" she said gently, trying not to seem threatening.  
"Did you kill it?" Clementine asked, swallowing.  
"I don't know... I think so..." Lea panted. Clementine didn't look at all comforted. "Sometimes they come back," she said restlessly.  
"Have you killed one?" Lea asked curiously.  
"No," Clementine admitted. "But they get shot a lot."  
"You've been all by yourself through this?" Lea asked, surprised. Usually she would blame the parents, but obviously... this wouldn't work in this case.  
"Yeah," Clementine looked at the floor, swinging her arms sadly. "I... want my parents to come home now."  
Lea swallowed, not knowing what to tell her. It was almost certain her parents were dead.  
"I... think that might be a little while, you know."  
"Oh," Clementine breathed, and buried her head on Lea's shoulder, crying.


	5. Healer

Lea looked down at the little eight-year-old crying on her shoulder. She was already fond of her. "Look..." she said, trying to think of some way to comfort the kid. "I don't know what happened. But I'll look after you until then."  
Clementine didn't reply for a few minutes. Eventually, she said, quietly, "But... what should we do now?"  
"We need to find help before it gets dark," Lea said. After all, in the stories, didn't the walking dead come out at night?  
"Yeah..." Clementine sighed. "It's not safe at night."  
She turned and left the house, and Lea stood up, stretched, and followed behind her.  
"Stay close to me," she warned.  
They had only been walking for about a minute when Lea held up her hand and shushed Clementine, motioning for her to stop.  
Two male voices drifted on the wind towards them. Not dead ones.  
"Maaaaaan! I ain't never gettin' home to Mama at this rate," one said, sounding exasperated.  
"This sucks," the second, deeper voice said. "And it's hot dish night," the first voice cried, sounding distressed.  
Lea turned the corner and saw two men trying to push a car into the street. Lea knelt down and looked at Clementine, who was looking teary. "What's the matter?" she asked, stroking Clementine's cheek.  
"Should I stay?" Clementine said, not meeting Lea's eyes.  
"What?" Lea asked, puzzled.  
"I don't want to sleep in the treehouse tonight, but... I don't know if I should leave! What if my parents come home?"  
YOUR PARENTS AREN'T COMING HOME, Lea's mind cried out, but obviously she wouldn't say that.  
She reached out and put a hand on Clementine's shoulder, wiping away her tears with the other hand.  
"I won't leave you alone," she said quietly.  
The corners of Clementine's mouth turned upward into a small hopeful smile. "Well... let's go somewhere safe that's close, okay?"  
"That's a good idea," Lea tried to appease her, when actually, all Lea wanted was to get as far away from here as possible.  
"Hey!" she called to the two men, who spun around, backing against the car.  
"HOLY CRAP!" one yelled. "Don't eat us!"  
"We're not going to hurt you," Lea limped towards them, hands raised. "Phew," said the one with the deeper voice. "Thought for a second both you and the little one were gonna give us the chomp."  
Lea was getting seriously fed up of being mistaken for a dead woman because of a sore leg. "Do you know what the hell is going on?" she asked.  
"No idea," said the deep-voiced man. "So, you've seen them then?" He gestured at a bunch of cars where there had evidently been an accident. There were several... walkers, I guess you could call them... the walking dead... scattered, lying around the cars. All dead. Umm... REALLY dead.  
"You could say that," Lea sighed.  
"I'm Shawn. Shawn Greene," the deep-voiced man said. "Lea," she smiled. "And this is Clementine."  
The other man kneeled down to Clementine's level and raised a hand in greeting, smiling. "I'm Chet."  
Clementine hid behind Lea, timid.  
"We shouldn't be out in the open like this," Shawn said urgently. "How about you help us clear the way, and we take you and your daughter out of here, and down to my family's farm? It should be safer there."  
For a second, Lea considered going along with the "mother and daughter" cover, but decided that the last thing she needed was to get into a web of lies. Besides, who knew what Clementine would say to that?  
"I'm not her mother," Lea said, shaking her head slightly. "I'm..." she hesitated. "Just someone."  
"'Someone?'" Shawn repeated.  
"Yeah," Lea swallowed, truthfully. "She's... alone?" Shawn asked. He shook his head, not waiting for a reply. "Let's get going. Staying put for too long is a mistake."  
Lea turned to face Clementine. She wouldn't go anywhere without her say-so.  
Kneeling down, she spoke gently. "What do you want to do, Clem?"  
"I..." Clementine stared at her house. "Oi! Those are monsters comin'!" Chet yelled. Lea whirled around to see three walkers advancing upon them silently. It was a good thing Chet and Shawn were there; without them, Lea wouldn't have realised until it was too late. So much for her sharp senses. She mentally cursed herself. She had put Clem in danger.  
"We gotta go! NOW!" Chet screamed.  
The two men immediately began trying to push the car out again. "Lea, quick! Let's go!" Shawn beckoned.  
Lea hurried over to help, putting all of her weight on her good leg. They managed to push the bust car (that was keeping their truck from getting out) around two metres forward, before Clem ran toward them and began to push to, moving the car completely out of the way.  
Chet rolled onto the pack of the pickup truck, while Shawn and Lea jumped in the front, Clem in the back.  
The truck careered over the curbs and sped off down the highway.  
"For just 'someone', it seems like you've saved a bunch of lives today," Shawn grinned over at Lea.  
"Thanks," Lea sighed, leaning her head against the door. She couldn't think of the lives she'd saved; only the lives she'd ended.  
The Senator, Daniel, the officer, Sandra... She closed her eyes so she wouldn't cry.

"Lea!" Clem hissed, "Wake up! I think we're here!" Lea opened her eyes to find Clem leaning over the seats. She was about to have a mini-panic attack at the fact that Clem wasn't wearing a seatbelt, before realizing that the truck wasn't moving. She flushed, and climbed out as Shawn laughed at her. She blushed slightly. He was pretty good-looking, now she thought about it... She shook her head fiercely. What was she thinking!? She was married! Was... Tearing up, she turned her back on Shawn, leaving him standing there, more than a little confused as she brushed past him pulling Clementine along with Chet.  
Chet turned to Shawn, pulling his arm out of Lea's grasp. "Hey, Shawn, man, I'm gonna head on home. My mama's gonna be in a snit worryin' 'bout me."  
"No sweat, man. I'll catch you tomorrow night," Shawn grinned.  
Chet glanced apologetically at Lea and Clem for leaving. "It was nice to meet ya both."  
Lea raised her hand reluctantly, and Chet left just as the door to the farmhouse swung open and an older man with greying hair stepped out.  
"Thank God! You're okay!" he said, stepped from the decking to greet Shawn.  
Shawn went forward to meet his father also, and said quietly, "I was worried it'd be bad here, too."  
Suddenly and without warning, Shawn threw his arms around the older man.  
The older man seemed stiff and unwilling to hug, but Shawn ignored this and beamed at his dad.  
"Been quiet as usual the past couple days," he smiled at Shawn. "Ol' Breckon down the way thinks his mare's gone lame but that ain't nothing new."  
"I wouldn't have made it back without Chet," Shawn said quietly, looking at the ground.  
That's adorable, Lea thought, and her eyes widened at her runaway thoughts. What the hell was wrong with her? She was a fighter, a warrior, she had to keep her mind on protecting Clem; this was no time for silly crushes.  
"Well, I'm glad you took him with you then," his father beamed, his arm sliding around his son's shoulders.  
Shawn's father turned and rested his gaze upon Lea and Clem, as if seeing them for the first time. "You've brought a couple guests," he said through clenched teeth, as he directed a warning look at Shawn.  
"Your boy's a lifesaver," Lea smiled, hoping to sweeten him up a little. The last thing she needed right now was a foe.  
"Glad he could be of help to somebody," he replied gruffly, as Shawn looked up at Lea gratefully, giving her a small smile. "So it's just you and your daughter then?"  
Lea was about to nod, when Shawn cut in: "Oh, not her daughter. She's just someone who found her alone."  
Shawn's father narrowed his eyes slightly at her, and Lea tried to look as innocent as possible, which wasn't easy with her so-called "battle scar" running down her cheek - a 'souvenir' from the army, she was surprised nobody had mentioned it yet. She could almost feel Shawn's dad staring at it.  
He knelt down to Clem's level and looked at her kindly. "Honey, do you know this woman?"  
Lea swallowed.  
Clem hesitated for a second, then said, firmly, "Yes."  
The elder man looked slightly surprised and humbled, and straightened up. He nodded. "Okay then." He looked back over at Lea, who immediately shrivelled under his gaze. "Well, seems you hurt your leg pretty bad there."  
"Yeah, uh," Lea scratched her neck awkwardly, "it's not doing so good."  
"I can help you out," the elder replied, "Shawn, go and run and check on your sister. You," he said, staring coldly at Lea, "go and take a seat on the porch and I'll go see what I have."  
Lea clambered onto the porch and sat on the bench straightening her leg as painlessly as she could. Clem followed her up, hanging onto the banister.  
Shawn's father came back from the house, clutching a box of bandages, and stopped in front of Clem. He shook his head slightly, then went to go and attend to Lea. Clem felt exposed and sat, waiting, huddled in a ball.  
"Let's have a look," he knelt down to examine Lea's leg and placed her hands on it. "Yeah, this is pretty swollen to hell."  
There was silence for a while, until Lea realizes that he was expecting her to reply. "Um," she said, hating being put under pressure like this, "It could be worse."  
Herschel looked up at her, suddenly looking grave. "That's what it sounds like. Seems like things got pretty bad in the cities."  
You could say that, Lea almost laughed sarcastically. You know, just the dead walking, no big deal.  
"What did you say your name was?" he bent down to examine Lea's leg again as she inspected him.  
Could he be trusted? Lea decided not to say her full name.  
"It's Lea," she smiled politely.  
"Nice to meet you, Lea," he beamed back. "I'm Hershel Greene."  
Hershel began to wind a bandage around Lea's leg and she winced in pain as the pressure was applied.  
"How'd this happen?" Hershel asked.

Lea chose to tell Hershel the truth.  
"Car accident," she said, quietly.  
"That so..." Hershel said. His tone of voice indicated that he didn't seem to fully believe her. "Where were you headed? Before the car accident?"  
"I was getting out of Atlanta," Lea replied. She didn't exactly want to say, oh, I was just going to jail for murdering two people. Please let me stay at your house!  
"The news says stay," Hershel frowns.  
"Yeah, well," Lea growled, "that's a mistake." Hershel looked up at her, surprised by her anger, and she told herself to calm down.  
"We hit a guy. One of the things you've been hearing about, on the news," she went on. Hershel didn't reply, because he noticed that Lea's eyes had widened. Why? Lea was remembering the description of the man they had bumped into... His skin looked rotten and decaying... Is it possible that they hit a walker, and not a pedestrian? "Who were you with, the girl?" Hershel asked.  
Lea swallowed. "Nobody."  
"Is that so..." Hershel repeated disbelievingly.  
Lea immediately went on the defensive. "Yeah. It is."  
"You said 'we'. That's all," he replied. Lea mentally cursed herself for being so stupid.  
Hershel clearly shrugged it off, because he went on, "House is full up with mine. We've got another displaced family of three sleeping in the barn. You and your daughter are welcome to rest there when we're done here."  
Hershel turned to face Clem. "I didn't catch your name, darlin'."  
Clem swallowed. She had a slight fear and dislike of this intimidating man. "Cl-Clementine."  
"Can't imagine what you've been through, Clementine," Hershel said, shaking his head sadly.  
"I'm looking after her until we find her parents," Lea said, hating to say it in front of Clem and giving her false hope.  
Shawn emerged from the home. Lea immediately brightened, but Shawn didn't even look at her.  
"Hey, dad, so I'm thinking, first thing tomorrow, we gotta reinforce the fence around the farm."  
Hershel turned, disgusted. "That isn't at all necessary."  
"I don't know what you saw on TV," Shawn glared, "or heard on the radio, but there's some serious crap hitting the fan. I don't think anyone knows how big it is yet."  
"Your son's right," Lea said regretfully. "You're going to want to fortify this place."  
Hershel ignored her comment. "Stuff like that doesn't happen around here, Shawn."  
"Dad, I'm serious!" Shawn cried. "Lea, come on, tell him what you saw out there, man."  
Lea blushed. This happened every time Shawn looked at her. She hated herself for getting distracted. She looked back at Hershel and he gave her a knowing look. He hadn't missed the redness on her cheeks.  
"I-I got chased by a couple of dead people," Lea said, desperate to redeem herself.  
"Well, do what you think you should. We've got plenty of chores as it is," Hershel snapped.  
"Lea and those folks in the barn can help out in the morning," Shawn tried to reason with Hershel. "We gotta do it,  
really."  
Hershel was getting moodier by the second. "I already SAID okay!" He looked back up at Lea. "Well, I'm all done here.  
It should start to feel better tomorrow."  
No matter how much Lea was intimidated by this man, she was eternally grateful. "Oh, and," Hershel said, turning back, "if your leg gets hot or the swelling doesn't go down; you're probably dealing with an infection."  
"What do we do then?" Lea asked, more than slightly concerned.  
"We'll probably just have to shoot you," Hershel grinned.


	6. The Calm Before The Storm

"Well, we'll probably just have to shoot you," Hershel grinned.  
Lea swallowed, not really sure how to reply to that. Her eyes widening considerably, she bit down on her lip, pondering if she really wanted to stay with a man who was likely to shoot her.  
His grin widened. "I'm just messing with ya!"  
Lea frowned.

Clem lay on her side beside Lea, who was resting on top of the sleeping bag, staring at the roof of the barn. The other family were already asleep; there were two adults, who looked middle-aged, and a small boy who must have been about Clem's age. At least Clem would have a friend now... hopefully.  
"It smells like..." Clem frowned, trying to piece the scent together. "I know what it smells like," Lea chuckled, amused, as the strong smell of manure entered her nostrils and she wrinkled her nose.  
Clem glared, not amused and said firmly, "Doodee."  
Lea stared at her for a second, trying not to laugh. She closed her eyes and was half-asleep when a small voice pierced the air.  
"I miss my mum and dad," Clem said quietly.  
"I bet, Clem," Lea reached across and held Clem's hand. "How far is Savannah?" Clem asked hopefully.  
Lea swallowed. "Pretty far."  
"Oh," the girl replied. Lea stared at her, trying to guess what she was thinking, but Clem gave away nothing. "Okay."  
She turned her head over and closed her eyes and slept caught up on her... and so did the nightmares.

"I love you, baby," Daniel's voice said, and his loud laughter echoed in her head. The sound of the vase shattering and Daniel's piercing yell for help rocketed in her mind, but it went on for longer than last time - a long, shrill scream.  
Lea sat up and gasped, opening her eyes wide and staring around the barn. It was a nightmare. Only a nightmare.  
She was fine; safe now. If you didn't count the walkers most likely roaming less than a few miles away.  
Severely shaken, Lea's head once again hit the pillow in a dreamless sleep.

Lea opened her eyes to see the greying middle-aged man from the other "displaced family" standing over him. "Hey. Get up,"  
the man said.  
She sat up, rubbing her stiff neck, to see that Clementine had already woken and was standing beside the door scratching her arms irritably.  
"Ugh, I'm itchy," she complained.  
"Well, you slept in a barn, little lady," the man chuckled. "Lucky you don't have spiders in your hair."  
Lea glared at the man as Clementine gasped, bringing her hands wildly through her hair.  
"But I bet your mummy scared 'em all away, huh?" the man grinned with a twinkle in his eye, gesturing to Lea.  
"I'm, uh, not her mum," Lea swallowed, smiling at Kenny politely. Couldn't Hershel have explained her relations to Clementine to everyone? "Name's Lea."  
"I'm Kenny," the man replied, grinning. He didn't seem to be too het up about this whole undead situation. He was cheerful enough and didn't stop smiling. A head popped around the barn door eagerly and began yelling for Kenny. It was the little boy that Lea had presumed to be about Clem's age, (now that she took a good look at him, he must have been maybe a year younger than her). "Dad!" the boy yelled in an excited voice, making Lea smile. Hell, this family was optimistic. It was refreshing. "We're gonna build a fence! There's a tractor and everything!" The boy didn't wait for an answer as he sped off to look at this 'tractor'.  
Kenny looked back at them, fondness for his son in his eyes. "We better get going, or we won't hear the end of it."  
Kenny turned and began to stroll towards where his boy was jumping onto the tractor, assisted by Shawn. Lea smiled slightly; she couldn't wait to speak to Shawn again. Then she mentally slapped herself. NO. TIME. FOR. CRUSHES. None,  
Lea. Get it in your head, she thought. "That's my boy," Kenny informed Lea, seemingly not noticing that Lea's cheeks had been coloured a bright crimson red. "Ken Junior. We call him Duck, though."  
Lea raised an eyebrow, not sure whether giggling would be rude. "Where do parents name their kids Duck?"  
"We're from Fort Lauderdale," Kenny replied, and Lea swallowed. Ford Lauderdale was where she had gone on the two-week long school trip with her university students... the last good thing that had happened to her before the apocolypse.  
There was no point denying it now; it WAS an apocolypse. "We were on our way back before things up and went bananas."  
That was a good way of putting it, Lea thought. It showed the insanity in the situation. They passed the woman, who must be Kenny's wife, and Duck, who had apparently gotten sick of the tractor and gone to see his mum.  
Kenny looked at her sidelong. "The word is you were on your way to Macon."  
She looked back at him, shrugging. "My family is from there."  
"Well," Kenny swallowed, obviously nervous about what he was going to ask next. "Macon's on the way out, and personally, I'd appreciate the company of a girl who can knock a couple of heads together if she has to."  
Lea was flattered. Well, 'a girl who can knock heads together' wasn't exactly a mainstream compliment, but it pleased her all the same. It was nice to think that someone thought she was an able fighter.  
"Maybe," Lea smiled still a little unsure. "We'll see how things shake out with this Hershel guy."  
"HA," Kenny laughed, full of mirth. "Good luck with that. He's a hard ass."  
Lea grinned at Kenny's obvious dislike for Hershel. She wondered faintly what he had done to annoy him so much.  
Before she could ask, Kenny turned to the woman and Duck, and said, "Honey, Duck, this is Lea and, uh, what's the girl's name?"  
"Clementine," Lea smiled. "She prefers Clem though."  
"Clem," Kenny repeated, grinning at his wife and son.  
The woman nodded at Clem. "That is a very pretty name," she assured her. She had a kind look in her eyes. Lea felt herself liking her already.  
"Thanks," Clem smiled shyly from behind Lea.  
Shawn spoke up from behind Lea without warning, making her freeze and flush red. She would HAVE to figure out a way to NOT do that. "Well," he said, gazing straight into Lea's eyes when she turned, making her look away again. "We should get to work. We've all seen what those things can do out there so the faster we get this fence up, the better."  
"I want to build a fence!" Duck agreed, requesting to take all the work. Shawn grinned at him and ruffled his hair.  
"Yeah?" he asked Duck. "Well, I need a good foreman. You can sit on the tractor and yell at me every time I take a water break."  
Lea grinned despite her current red-cheeked predicament. She didn't think Shawn had noticed, but... She cleared her throat nervously.  
Shawn looked over in her direction, but Duck stole his attention again, by shouting "On the tractor? Cool!"  
She frowned. Shawn didn't miss this, and looked at her reassuringly, thinking it was because she was worried about him being on the tractor. He nodded at her, saying, "Duck and I will hop to it."  
As they left, the woman smiled. "I'm Katjaa. I can keep an eye on your little girl here on the porch. We can visit."  
Clem perched on the haystack with Katjaa while Kenny left to go and do... something... to his car's engine. Lea decided to go and see what she was doing later, after all, she knew a fair bit about cars. But first, she had to speak to Clem. She hadn't really had time this morning.  
"You having a nice time with Katjaa, Clementine?" Lea smiled briefly.  
"Yeah," Clem looked up at her, before continuing her discussion with Katjaa. Lea looked over at Katjaa. Maybe she would be a better conversationalist.  
"So how did you handle getting through the city?" Lea asked the first thing that came to mind, hoping for it to be an open, optimistic conversation, but unfortunately the question came out to be a serious thought of hers.  
The shine in Katjaa's eyes immediately dulled, and she looked at the ground, shaking her head. "Kenny just...  
drove. We passed so many people that needed help. And... we just... passed people, over some. Just... just..." She was getting worked up, and Lea felt bad about bringing it up, putting a hand on Katjaa's shoulder.  
"Hey," she said gently. "It's okay. It's fine. You don't have to say anymore."  
Kat shook her head off, looking at her desperately. "I want to go home tomorrow, but even then I can't take away the things we - the things DUCK - went through. Don't you want to go back to the moment before you knew about all of this?"  
No, Lea thought, but didn't speak aloud. After all, she had been on her way to prison before she knew about the walkers. If she was completely honest, she would rather face the undead than spend the rest of her life in a prison cell. At least there was a chance this could all blow over. She sighed inwardly, choosing not to speak her thoughts. Kat would think she was insane.  
Instead, she shrugged slightly and smiled politely at Katjaa. "Things were bad before," she admitted, looking away, "bad NOW, but they're different, you know?"  
Kat looked slightly surprised, and looked down fondly at the eight-year-old perched on the haybale beside her.  
She looked back up at Lea, shaking her head. "People are eating each other," she pointed out, voice hoarse. "But they weren't before?" Lea smirked. "The banks, the politics, the... the crap - those things are gone. Hell comes in a lot of different colours." Her mind drifted back to the last night where everything was normal... the things she'd done. She mentally buried these thoughts at the back of her mind. "Back in a bit."  
Her eyes drifted over in the direction of where Shawn was bent fixing the fence, hammering the heavy wooden panels onto the posts. She beamed, stepped in her direction, before her attention was caught by Kenny, who was still working on the truck engine. "He seems like an all right guy," she mused, and decided to see what she could do to help.  
Kenny didn't seem to notice her behind him, until she cleared her throat and said, "Hey there, uh, Kenny."  
He looked up, a pleasant, charismatic smile on her face. Lea decided to cut to the chase.  
"So... what's your family's plan?"  
Kenny shrugged indifferently, and hesitated for a few moments before replying, "Get back on down to Lauderdale and let this mess get sorted out." Lea must have looked confused, as he looked at her before continuing, "Government will start handing out shots and the national guard will do it's thing. On the odd chance things got too bad, we could hop on my boat,  
I guess."  
She raised an eyebrow in well-concealed surprise. How wealthy was this guy? She had taken him for some country bumpkin (no offence to him, she smiled), but now he dropped the bombshell; he had a freakin' boat? If he'd just told them that before, they could have been away from this dump and been on some remote island somewhere, away from...  
them.  
She swallowed down her frustration. "You've got a boat?"  
Kenny shrugged once again. "I'm a commercial fisherman, catching mackeral, dolphin, whatever's biting and paying. Katjaa wouldn't be wild about it, but the boat's not that bad."  
She sighed. "Need any help?"  
"Naw," Kenny drawled. "I think I got it."  
Lea began to turn away, before she felt Kenny's stare on her back. She turned to see him looking, and raised her eyebrows in a silent question.  
"Do YOU need any help?" Kenny asked.  
"What do you mean?" Lea asked.  
"I mean," Kenny rolled his eyes as if it was obvious, "in taking care of that little girl. You know what you're doing?  
You got kids of your own?"  
I wish, Lea sighed inwardly. Although the last thing she'd have wanted was to have her children caught up in this mess. "I have no idea what I'm doing," she smiled slightly.  
"At least you're honest," Kenny sighed, looking back at the engine. "Crap, better than I was when Duck showed up. You'll figure it out." He absent-mindedly patted Lea's shoulder before diverting his full attention to the truck once again.  
"See ya," Lea muttered. Her conversation with Kenny had definitely given her a lot to ponder.  
She didn't see any point with attempting a conversation with Hershel at this moment; he would only question her further, she could feel it. She still harboured a strong dislike for that man.  
Her gaze slid toward where Shawn and Duck were laughing over at the tractor. She found herself making her way over, her feet placing themselves one in front of the other by themselves.  
"Hey, Shawn," she said almost silently, but the man didn't turn. She repeated herself, slightly louder, "Hey, Shawn."  
He turned with an inquisitive smile on his face.  
"Need any help?" she asked.  
"That'd be great," cried Shawn, leaping up. "If you could cut those two-bys to length, that'd sure speed things up." He held out his hand, and she looked at it - he was handing her a large, steel saw. She swallowed and took it gingerly by the brass red handle. She'd never used a saw before.  
She placed a plank of wood on the stand and began to reluctantly drag the saw back and forth across the material;  
her confidence grew over time and soon she was getting quite a lot of work done. Shawn and Lea chatted as she worked.  
"My dad doesn't know how bad it is," Shawn said, shaking his head in exasperation. "No, he doesn't," Lea agreed, still sawing. "It's like he's in denial."  
"I saw a gu-" Shawn choked on his words, almost breaking Lea's heart. "I-" He visibly steeled himself. "I saw a guy in - in Atlanta... kill a kid. A boy. Just... shot him. Right in the face."  
"Was the boy one of the walkers?" she asked him directly, trying to hide the emotions in her face.  
"I don't even know," Shawn sighed, sounding incredibly guilty. "He was either attacking the guy or asking for help." Lea really hoped with all her heart that it wasn't the latter. Shawn came over to her, abandoning his work on the fence. "He didn't even hesitate. He just turned, put the barrel of the gun right between this kid's eyes and pulled the trigger."  
Lea pulled him into a quick hug, and he buried his head in the crook of her shoulder, choking on tears. She pulled away after a few moments, and took hold of the saw again. He sighed. "You don't see things like that. It's not like in the movies."  
Yeah, I know, Lea thought. "They don't fall like you think."  
Shawn turned, frowning. "Did you have to do it?"  
"Do what?" she tried to buy herself more time.  
"Kill. Have you had to off one yet?"  
Two actually, Lea thought. Plus two humans. "Oh, uh..." She hesitated, thinking of a decent answer that would be neither lying, nor give away her crime history. "Sometimes it's kill or be killed." She finished sawing the wood, and Shawn hung onto her arms. "I guess. I don't think I'd sleep good after that," he muttered.  
"Anyway," he carried on. "I'm just glad we're getting this fence built. Dad just wants to keep the family safe and thinks inviting people in is a bigger threat than whatever's out there. How about yours? How's your family?"  
"I'm, uh... not too close with my family," she replied forcefully.  
"Oh." Shawn looked awkward. "Well, they weren't in Atlanta, right? So that's good."  
"Thanks," Lea answered. She looked towards the barn. It was time to talk to Hershel - it was better sooner rather later. Suddenly and without warning, Shawn's lips pressed against hers briefly. "Thanks," he murmured. "For cheering me up." He turned back to the fence and didn't look up again.  
Lea's hand raised automatically towards her mouth as she turned dazedly, making her way toward Hershel, who was using a pitchfork to gather stray straw from the floor. From the moody look on his face, he had seen everything.  
Grumpy Hershel. Bad idea. She turned to walk discreetly in the other direction, but Hershel spoke up from behind her. "You should know," he snarled, "that if you weren't leaving with Kenny today, I wouldn't stand for your lack of honesty last night."  
She swallowed. "I'm not sure I follow."  
"A man asks your full name, you give it," Hershel snapped. "Unless that name is no good. How'd you get out of Atlanta?"  
Lea frowned. Clearly she wouldn't get anywhere by admitting that she was in a police car. "...On foot. I headed south, and hoofed it out of there."  
"That's a long walk," Hershel intervented, that aggravating disbelieving tone creeping back into his voice.  
"This farm's a nice plot of land," Lea said hastily, trying to change the subject.  
"Ha," Hershel sneered. "Had you told me twenty years ago I'd still be doing this, I woulda told you that you were full of crap." He sighed, and Lea felt as if she'd intruded on something private as he continued, "Never was the plan, having a place like this. It was in the family, and I guess so was I. Family's important; it's all that matters." He looked up, regarding her carefully. "Do you agree with that?"  
She nodded. "Was brought up to, yes."  
"Where's your family now? Parents? Husband? Boyfriend?"  
She almost choked.  
"M-my parents are in M-Macon, with m-my brother."  
"Well, I hope they're all right," Hershel half-smiled briefly, before his stony mask settled back in. "But now you've got this little girl to take care of. Clementine, is it? You just stumbled upon her?"  
"What are you getting at?" Lea asked, suspiciously.  
Hershel shrugged and huffed, aggressively stabbing the pitchfork into the haybale.  
"Can I give you a piece of advice?" he said, in Lea's face.  
"M-mind your own business," she countered, trying to sound braver than she felt.  
"I don't know who you are, or what you did," Hershel roared, fists clenched. "But you'd better become a better liar, and fast!" Lea nodded, about to back down, but the next thing he said shocked her: "And stay away from my son, do you hear me, Lea? Stay away! You don't deserve him - he's honest and a decent man! I've seen the looks going on between you two, the kiss - and I won't stand for it! Understand?"  
Lea shook her head in disgust. "If you don't calm down soon, you will become all your son fights against."  
"What's that supposed to mean? Huh? Huh?" Hershel's voice faded as Lea turned away, lips still tingling.  
A pair of piercing, urgent yells for help echoed through the farmyard, and all thoughts of tension and arguing left the atmosphere as Hershel and Lea stared at each other, stunned, before she grabbed Hershel's arm and pulled him outside, with no protest from the elderly male.  
The sight that greeted them was a terrible one, and Lea did all she could not to scream - Duck was cowering on the tractor, which had driven forward and trapped Shawn underneath the bumper - and walkers were shuffling and dragging their feet outside the farm fence. Lea, Hershel and Katjaa, who had emerged from the farmhouse as soon as she heard the screams, sprinted over to the tractor, with Hershel holding up his gun that he had grabbed from the crate as they had run past. Duck was trying desperately to find the pedal with would make the tractor reverse, but before he could find the correct one, two walkers reached through the fence and grabbed Shawn's neck, pulling him towards them.  
"No!" Lea screamed, and looked at Hershel who was aiming his gun at one of the walkers. He wasn't going to do it quickly enough. He looked at her with empathy; he knew now that she loved his son. He motioned hastily for her to run to Shawn, which Lea did as soon as she was given the sign.  
Lea was almost halfway to Shawn, they were reaching out to each other already, Lea screaming as Shawn's lips struggled to free himself of the walkers, when another young child's scream echoed. Another walker that she had failed to notice had grabbed Duck by the neck and was trying to drag him off the tractor. Then the true horror of the situation dawned on her. Both Duck and Shawn needed her desperately. She could only save one. There was no time to rescue both. She looked at Duck, an innocent child who had done nothing wrong, who reached out for his parents... and then she looked at Shawn. The honestly beautiful, kind-hearted, compassionate young man who she had already given her heart to.  
"Help me!" Duck screamed.  
"Save the kid! Please! Lea! You know it's the only choice!" Shawn yelled over to her, trying to bat the walkers hands off him.  
Time seemed to stand still. Lea knew what she had to do. The others were too far away to help right now.  
She sprinted over to Duck and punched the walkers hands off Duck's shoulders, pulling Duck and cradling him against her stomach, as she passed him over to Kenny. She looked at Shawn, an indescribable feeling filling her heart and soul. He looked at her with understanding in those soft green eyes, and his lips formed the words "I love you", two seconds before a walker bit down on his leg and he silently screamed in pain. "No!" a blood-curdling scream came from Lea. It took her a while to realise that it was her, screaming over and over again, not ceasing to take a breath. She reached out to Shawn, but it was too late. She covered her eyes as the remaining walkers dragged Shawn right up to the fence and bit into his flesh, wet tearing sounds echoing in the grim silence that followed her shrieks.  
She was vaguely aware of her knees hitting the rocks on the grounds, and three gunshots went off, as the walkers fell. Hershel was looking at her with an unidentifiable emotion in his eyes. She wondered what it was. Pity? Despair?  
Empathy? But no. Hershel stood up from his crouched position beside his son's body. He didn't meet anyone's eyes as he spoke in a quiet, steely voice. "Get out."  
When nobody responded, Hershel stood up and stared them all down, one by one. "GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE," he snarled.  
Kenny looked guiltily at his wife, who sat holding tightly onto Duck. "I-I'm sorry," he said.  
"Sorry?" Hershel repeated. "SORRY? Your son is alive! You don't get to be sorry!"  
"And YOU," he said, turning to Lea with disgust etched in his features. "You didn't even try to help. You LOVED him, and he loved you too,  
I could see it in the pathetic way you looked at each other. You were IN LOVE, and you didn't even TRY TO SAVE HIM!"  
Everyone turned and stared at Lea in surprise. None of them had known about her feelings for Shawn, and she hadn't planned on telling them anytime soon. Lea stuttered, "We-we weren't in love."  
"Don't deny it, you worthless piece of crap," Hershel snarled, lunging at her. Kenny held him back but Hershel threw him off, striding up to Lea and putting his finger in her face, pointing at her angrily. "Next time you find someone as amazing, compassionate and kind-hearted as Shawn was that loves you too, you hold onto them! Not like you'll find someone anyway; you're a fool!"  
Lea sobbed brokenly, and was about to walk away, when Hershel struck the band of his hand across Lea's cheek, leaving it scarlet red. She gasped, clutching the left side of her face, and Hershel turned. He stopped, and didn't look back as he said, "He loved you.  
He trusted you. You let him die. My son." He collapsed onto his knees beside Shawn's body, weeping, and Katjaa put a hand on his shoulder.  
The only response she got was a low growl from Hershel and she stepped back and beckoned for Kenny to follow her back to the truck. Lea took one look back at Hershel, and ignored him, stepping past him to get to Shawn's body. She checked the body for any signs of reanimation,  
but could spot none. She carefully bent down and placed a hand on Shawn's shoulder, before pressing her lips to his cheek in a final farewell. Hershel just glared dully at the ground until she turned and headed to the truck, clutching Clementine's hand. Once they were settled into the seats of the vehicle, the last thing Lea heard was a scream, a gunshot and the sound of ripping flesh before she put her fingers in her ears and blocked out everything apart from the slow chugging of the truck engine.


	7. Author's Note

_**Whoa. I knew the story was bad, but I didn't think the first two and only reviews it would get would be bad! Here they are, and my replies to them:**_

**_ctn04132_**** "I like the idea, but I don't think the execution is there. You're basically just recycling the game dialogue but changing the gender of the character. There isn't really any originality. Any Lea just seems like an unlikeable bitch tbh - there is nothing endearing about her character and personality. Also, the formatting is giving me a headache. Please try and separate the paragraphs -.-"**

I'm very sorry you feel that way. I was actually taking it from a Let's Play as I don't own the game, I've only watched playthroughs of it, so that's probably why I was taking the dialogue from the game. And, in reply to your formatting thing, I typed this all up on my phone and I did seperate the paragraphs (I'm big on grammar/punctuation etc. and getting it all right) but my phone was being idiotic and wouldn't upload it that way, apparently, and I didn't notice until just now. Thanks for pointing it out. I really think your review was quite rude. I mean, I understand that you don't like my story, but I did put a lot of work into it, and come on, man, it's Christmas. This is how I escape from stuff, I write, and getting bad reviews, while constructive criticizm is fine, you've just basically told me that everything about my story is bad. The character, the dialogue, the storyline, the formatting... If you think your version would be better, please feel free to write one, but there's no need to be rude about mine. I understand that sometimes its tempting to be quite harsh in reviews for some people, but there's no need to actually do it. Before reviewing, take some time to calm down, and give the author three good things about their story to even out the bad things, okay? I'm glad you liked the idea though.

**_Meow_**** "It was kinda forward how Shawn and Lea loved eachother for less than a week of knowing" **

Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. But as you know, Shawn and Lee/Lea/you aren't really together much in the game seeing as Shawn is only alive for about fifteen minutes. I really do like the pairing of Shawn/Lea, but I didn't want to change everything and save Shawn, so I had to kind of rush it on a little to get it in before he died yet not develop it too much.

_**Sorry you guys didn't like my story! :( I'll stop now and work on some other stuff, I guess. Thanks for reading and Merry Christmas.**_


End file.
